Boy, Snow, Bird

“Nobody ever warned me about mirrors, so for many years I was fond of them, and believed them to be trustworthy.”

Mirrors are an important, recurring image throughout the novel. Several of the main characters claim to see something other than what they are in mirrors; Boy’s statement here that nobody warned her is ominous. Additionally, it’s a trope that immediately connects the tale to Snow White (and to folktales more broadly).

“Folks were stampeding the last bus with everything they had—it was as if anyone unlucky enough to still be on the station platform turned into a pumpkin when the clock struck twelve.”

This is, of course, another reference to a folktale, this time Cinderella. Additionally, though, there is a contrast between the regular people rushing for the last bus and Boy doing so, as hers really is a matter of importance—she couldn’t plan her escape, only go when the opportunity presented itself, and she is genuinely concerned and fearful for her safety if she misses this bus.

“I couldn’t make up my mind whether the baby was male or female; the only certainties were near baldness and incandescent rage.”

This feels like a throwaway line in the first chapter, but in fact it foreshadows the eventual reveal at the end of the book that Frank was Frances, Boy’s mother. The baby is androgynous, but angry; Frank used to be a woman, then became a man, and spends much of that time angry. There are several such moments that feel like throwaway lines toward the beginning of the novel that are actually quite important once everything has been revealed.